6/6/2021 Jim Hall (1930-2013)

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Jim Hall (1930-2013)

by Marc-Andre Seguin

Jim Hall is hard to box-in and describe. Yes, he's one of the guys that were active
starting in the 1950... in New York in the 60's. And  yes  , he played mainstream

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jazz and/or bebop and/or cool. And  of course, he played with 

most 
Menulegendary

jazz men of the last 50 years (and continued to do so until he passed).

And,  oh yes... by the way, he influenced everyone that ever sold a jazz album
since the 80's :-)

But, the point is: he's no  ordinary  bebop/mainstream/legendary man.  In my

opinion, Jim Hall is a legend's legend! There's something unlikely about his sound
and approach. And from what I understand, Jim IS that legendary guy because he
didn't sound like everybody else. Such an appealing sound.

The way he decided to play the guitar in such a traditional idiom without any frills
or flashy stuff probably comes from his classical training: sophisticated harmony
implied by the use of intervals, very broad improvisational ideas, less is more
approach and of course, lots of listening in general.

Everything is purified before it comes out. And content is more important than
sound. I believe that's this is why Jim Hall is so magnetic for other guitarists. That
kind of sound influenced most jazzers that came up in the 70's and later, such
as Metheny and Scofield.

Great Jim Hall Quote :

"Players should force themselves to hear something and then

play it, rather than just do whatever comes under their fingers.
I try to make my playing as fresh as possible by not relying on
set patterns.

When I practice, I tie off some of the strings with rubber bands
to force myself to look at the fingerboard differently. Force
instance, I might play on the D and G strings only, or even just
on the G and A strings."

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Playing Style and Gear  Menu 

Gear wise, he's been using a custom made Sadowsky guitar and polytone amps
(but it always depends). As to his playing style, Jim Hall places the music first, the
technicalities come after.

I like to see it poetically:  He  choose minimalism  over chops. He  choose each
note  wisely instead of noodling around. He  choose rhythmic
sophistication  instead of funky vamps. He punctuated with three-notes chords
instead of strumming... etc. He leaves space when the music calls for it!

Check him out on YouTube !

The following transcriptions comes for the live Michel Petrucciani "Power of
Three" album (with Petrucciani, Hall and Wayne Shorter)

Jim Hall Untold

Read or watch Jim Hall Untold here, where we ask ourselves “What can we learn
from Jim?” (other than playing amazing improvised jazz guitar lines!)

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Legenda…  Menu
Jim Hall Untold - Lessons Learned from Legenda… 

Top-5 Jim Hall Albums (according to JazzGuitarLessons.net)

Don’t know where to start listening to the great Jim Hall? Perhaps this little top-5
list will help you get started!

1. All Across The City 1989

2. These Rooms 1988
3. Interplay (Bill Evans) 1963
4. The Bridge (Sonny Rollins) 1962
5. Intermodulation (Bill Evans) 1966

Video, Licks and Transcriptions

Jim Hall and Petrucciani live "Beautiful Love"

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Get transcription excerpt from this video HERE

Click here to learn about other jazz guitar greats

Marc-Andre Seguin is the webmaster, mastermind and teacher on

JazzGuitarLessons.net, the #1 online resource for learning how to play jazz guitar.
He draws from his experience both as a professional jazz guitarist and
professional jazz teacher to help thousands of people from all around the world
learn the craft of jazz guitar.

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bob fucci
18/6/2020, 20:54:43

Thanks for your work!

Jim Hall

Intermodulation 1966?

How about him (with Paul Desmond)?

Reply to bob fucci

Justin JGL
19/6/2020, 16:52:58

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Nice catch! Seems like we got some dates mixed up there... love the stuff 
with Desmond (although Bickert was arguably a better fit?).

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